“Toward Freedom” is an Everything-Voluntary.com series sharing personal stories about the journey toward freedom. Archived stories can be found here. Submit your story to the editor. Originally published at Voluntaryist.com. While most of my friends would find it difficult to imagine today, I have not always been a loudmouthed, pain-in-the-ass, libertarian anarchist. In fact, if…
Tag: ethics
Economic vs. Moral Arguments for Liberty
Skyler J. Collins explains the importance of economics and economic arguments for liberty, versus only moral or ethical arguments. He had to swallow the former before accepting the latter.
Re: Our Moral High Ground
Writes Skyler J. Collins: In response to my claims on the immorality of voting (of granting immoral power to someone however they intend to use it), some have said that voting is a violation of a lower law in obedience to a higher one. Well and good, my point remains, voting is immoral, irrelevant is…
The Ethics of Voting
Guest post by George H. Smith. The purpose of this essay is to explore the moral implications of libertarians (especially anarchists) holding political office, running for political office, or assisting those who do — primarily through the vote. The ethics of voting cannot be divorced from the key question of what one is voting for.…
Ben Speers
“Toward Freedom” is an Everything-Voluntary.com series sharing personal stories about the journey toward freedom. Archived stories can be found here. Submit your story to the editor. A lot of people go through life without ever questioning things, but I’ve always identified with Socrates’ sentiment that the unexamined life isn’t worth living. In the realm of…
Individualism, Collectivism, and Other Murky Labels
Imagine the following person. He believes all individuals should be free to do anything that’s peaceful and therefore favors private property, free global markets, freedom of contract, civil liberties, and all the related ideas that come under the label libertarianism (or liberalism). Obviously he is not a statist. But is he an individualist and a capitalist or a socialist and a collectivist?
Statist Ethics 101
Guest post by Chris Dates. When using the Socratic jackhammer against statists, it’s usually not more than a couple blows of the anvil before we arrive at what the state actually is–a group of individuals exercising the use of force against other individuals. Ultimately, this is the core of the state’s power; the use of…
Rothbardian Ethics
Guest post by Hans Hoppe. In the history of social and political thought many proposals have been advanced as an alleged solution to the problem of social order, and this variety of mutually inconsistent proposals has contributed to the fact that today the search for a single “correct” problem solution is frequently deemed illusory. Yet…
America as an Historical Advance in Political Ethics
Guest post by Spencer Morgan. As an advocate of stateless human organization, or voluntaryism, I’ve often been faced with the dilemma of how to evaluate America in light of that ethical position. Is there any amount of reverence or appreciation warranted or does the nationalistic mythology about freedom need to be entirely discarded? Below are…
Chapter 17 – The Trouble with Traditional Schooling
Table of ContentsPrevious – Section Three – Free Market Resources 17 The Trouble with Traditional Schooling by Vahram G. Diehl Traditional concepts and applications of learning have generally been one-sided. The “teacher” transmits information in the form of conclusions through words and images, while the “students” are expected to act as flawless receivers and adopters…